"We've got a great relationship. Obviously, it started when she came into the sport. We were both going to rookie meetings. It's been cool to work with her in the Nationwide Series. I've felt like she could come to me with advice with the experience I've had.

"But, you know, I don't like to talk too much about my personal life. I think this week is about Roush Fenway, the Gen 6 (car), our sponsors and our season that we're looking ahead to. It's going to be fun racing her in rookie of the year. I think it's going to be very exciting. I've never raced a friend for a championship, for rookie of the year."

Patrick, who filed for divorce earlier this month, was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Monday, during Patrick's media session with Stewart-Haas Racing, she referred to him as a good friend.

Stenhouse acknowledged attending a Professional Bull Riders event with Patrick on Saturday (the two could be seen in pictures posted on a Stenhouse-related Tumblr page), though Stenhouse said they went with a group of friends.

"It was a lot of fun," he said. "I think it was her first rodeo ever."

Asked whether he worried his personal life could become a distraction this season, Stenhouse said he would stay focused on racing.

"The fans can focus on whatever they want," he said. "I stay focused on what I've got to do for my career, what I gotta do for me to make a living."

Will Stenhouse race Patrick any differently on the track, given they are close?

"Heck no, we're going for rookie of the year," he said. "People always say, 'I'd wreck my mom to win,' and that's a racer's mentality. I want to win rookie of the year just as badly as she does."

In the wake of Patrick announcing Nov. 20 she intended to divorce Paul Hospenthal after seven years of marriage, several other gossip blogs speculated whether Stenhouse might have factored into the split. None of the reports offered any proof Patrick and Stenhouse were dating.

Patrick, 30, and Stenhouse, 25, grew close during the 2010 season when they were both rookies helping each other in the Nationwide Series. At rookie driver meetings, Stenhouse often offered his seat to Patrick along with tidbits of driving advice, and Patrick convinced Stenhouse that he should cut his infamous "mullet".

"We were at an autograph session in Chicago," Stenhouse told USA TODAY Sports in a November 2011 story. "And she (asked), 'Man, what's it going to take for you to cut your hair?' "

Stenhouse said he didn't want to ruin a run of good fortune under new crew chief Mike Kelley after crashing in five of his first 12 races. So Patrick took the suggestion to Kelley by writing on an autograph card, "Please let Ricky cut the mullet. He's much hotter with a nice, clean cut." Stenhouse chopped the long locks within a few days.

They shared a hug on ESPN after Stenhouse completed a postrace interview at Kentucky Speedway last September.

"We got along from the very beginning," Patrick told ESPNW.com for a story last July. "He's really respectful. He wants to help me. He makes me trust him. There's no bad intent. He's just protective and nice, a really good friend."

Just as they moved into the Nationwide Series together three years ago, Patrick and Stenhouse are making the full-time move into NASCAR's premier series together.

Roush Fenway Racing promoted Stenhouse to the No. 17 Ford after the Olive Branch, Miss., native won the past two Nationwide championships while scoring eight victories in 2011-12.

Patrick will contest the 36-race season for Stewart-Haas Racing after finishing 10th in points last year for JR Motorsports in her first full year in NASCAR after running the Izod IndyCar Series from 2005 to 2011. She became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and the first to win a major-league oval race in 2008. With a fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2011, she became the highest-finishing woman in NASCAR national series history.

Three-time champion Tony Stewart is a common denominator for the pair, having become Patrick's car owner in Sprint Cup five years after he fielded a USAC sprint car for Stenhouse.

"They're both good people," Stewart told USA TODAY Sports in 2011. "When I first met Ricky, it was obvious this was a good kid with a great personality -- very mature for his age. Well spoken, well mannered. I thought, 'This kid would be fun to work with.' Then you put him in a car, and you see the manners go out the window, and you see this aggressive kid with no reservations.

"Danica is the same way. â?¦ She has a really good ability when it comes to processing information and being able to apply it."